Active pixel sensor pixel having a photodetector whose output is coupled to an output transistor gate

ABSTRACT

An imaging device formed as a monolithic complementary metal oxide semiconductor integrated circuit in an industry standard complementary metal oxide semiconductor process, the integrated circuit including a focal plane array of pixel cells, each one of the cells including a photogate overlying the substrate for accumulating photo-generated charge in an underlying portion of the substrate and a charge coupled device section formed on the substrate adjacent the photogate having a sensing node and at least one charge coupled device stage for transferring charge from the underlying portion of the substrate to the sensing node. There is also a readout circuit, part of which can be disposed at the bottom of each column of cells and be common to all the cells in the column. A Simple Floating Gate (SFG) pixel structure could also be employed in the imager to provide a non-destructive readout and smaller pixel sizes.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of Ser. No. 08/785,931 filed Jan. 22,1997 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,166,768 which is a cotinuation-in-part of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 08/558,521 filed Nov. 16, 1995 now U.S. Pat.No. 6,101,232, which is a continuation of Ser. No. 08/188,032 filed Jan.28, 1994 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,471,515 entitled ACTIVE PIXEL SENSOR WITHINTRA-PIXEL CHARGE TRANSFER by Eric R. Fossum et al. and assigned to thepresent assignee. This application also claims priority from provisionalapplication No. 60/010,305, filed Jan. 22, 1996, and from provisionalapplication No. 60/013,700, filed Mar. 20, 1996.

ORIGIN OF THE INVENTION

The invention described herein was made in the performance of work undera NASA contract, and is subject to the provisions of Public Law 96-517(35 USC 202) in which the Contractor has elected to retain title.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention is related to semiconductor imaging devices. Morespecifically, the present invention relates to a silicon imaging devicewhich can be fabricated using a CMOS compatible process, and specificimproved techniques that are used by such a system.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY

Many semiconductors can be used for acquiring a signal indicative of animage. Charge coupled devices (CCDs), photodiode arrays, chargeinjection devices and hybrid focal plane arrays are some of the morecommonly used devices. CCDs are often used, since they represent amature technology, are capable of large formats and very small pixelsize and they facilitate noise-reduced charge domain processingtechniques such as binning and time delay integration.

However, CCD imagers suffer from a number of drawbacks. For example, thesignal fidelity of a CCD decreases as the charge transfer efficiency israised to the power of the number of stages. Since CCDs use many stages,the CCD fabrication technique needs to be optimized for very efficientcharge transfer efficiency. CCDs are also susceptible to radiationdamage, require good light shielding to avoid smear and have high powerdissipation for large arrays.

The specialized CCD semiconductor fabrication process is intended tomaximize the charge transfer efficiency of the CCD. This specialized CCDprocess, however, has been incompatible with the complementary metaloxide semiconductor (“CMOS”) processing which has been conventionallyused. The image signal processing electronics required for the imagerare often fabricated in CMOS. Accordingly, it has been difficult tointegrate on-chip signal processing electronics in a CCD imager, becauseof the incompatibility of the processing techniques. Because of thisproblem, the signal processing electronics has often been carried outoff-chip.

Typically, each column of CCD pixels is transferred to a correspondingcell of a serial output register, whose output is amplified by a singleon-chip amplifier (e.g., a source follower transistor) before beingprocessed in off-chip signal processing electronics. This architecturelimits the read-out frame rate which the on-chip amplifier can handleproportional to the number of charge packets divided by the number ofpixels in the imager.

The other types of imager devices have problems as well. Photodiodearrays exhibit high kTC noise. This makes it impractical to reset adiode or capacitor node to the same initial voltage at the beginning ofeach integration period. Photodiode arrays also suffer from lag. Chargeinjection devices also have high noise.

Hybrid focal plane arrays exhibit less noise but are prohibitivelyexpensive for many applications and have relatively small array sizes.

In view of the inventor's recognition of the above problems, it is oneobject of the present invention to provide an imager device which hasthe low kTC noise level of a CCD without the associated CMOSincompatibility and other above-described problems.

In a preferred embodiment, the sensing node of the charge coupled devicesection includes a floating diffusion, and the charge coupled devicestage includes a transfer gate overlying the substrate between thefloating diffusion and the photogate. This preferred embodiment canfurther include apparatus for periodically resetting a potential of thesensing node to a predetermined potential, including a drain diffusionconnected to a drain bias voltage and a reset gate between the floatingdiffusion and the drain diffusion, the reset gate connected to a resetcontrol signal.

The imaging device also includes a readout circuit having at least anoutput transistor. Preferably, the output transistor is a field effectsource follower output transistor formed in each one of the pixel cells,the floating diffusion being connected to its gate. Also, the readoutcircuit can further include a field effect load transistor connected tothe source follower output transistor, and preferably a correlateddouble sampling circuit having an input node connected between thesource follower output transistor and load transistor. The focal arrayof cells is also preferably organized by rows and columns, and thereadout circuit has plural load transistors and plural correlated doublesampling circuits. In this case, each cell in each column of cells isconnected to a single common load transistor and a single commoncorrelated double sampling circuit. These common load transistors andcorrelated double sampling circuits are disposed at the bottom of therespective columns of cells to which they are connected.

In the preferred implementation, charge is first accumulated under thephotogate of a pixel cell. Next, the correlated double sampling circuitsamples the floating diffusion immediately after it has been reset, atone capacitor. The accumulated charge is then transferred to thefloating diffusion and the sampling process is repeated with the resultstored at another capacitor. The difference between the two capacitorsis the signal output. In accordance with a further refinement, thisdifference is corrected for fixed pattern noise by subtracting from itanother difference sensed between the two capacitors while they aretemporarily shorted.

The imaging device can also have a micro-lens layer overlying thesubstrate. This micro-lens layer includes a refractive layer andindividual lenses formed in the layer which are in registration withindividual ones of the cells. Each of the individual lenses has acurvature for focusing light toward a photosensitive portion of therespective cell.

The imaging device could also use a Simple Floating Gate (“SFG”) pixelstructure. This SFG pixel allows non-destructive readout due to thefloating gate configuration. As described herein, the device made usingthe SFG has fewer components. Therefore, the system allows the use ofsmaller pixel sizes. The SFG pixel structure described herein forms toconstruct high density arrays that allow a non-destructive readout. Anarray of SFG pixels includes a monolithic semiconductor integratedcircuit substrate and is organized by rows and columns, as withpreviously-described imager embodiments. However, each SFG pixel cellincludes a photogate overlying the substrate which operates toaccumulate photo-generated charge thereunder. A coupling capacitor isconnected between the photogate and a row address line. The row addressline is common to all the pixel cells in a row of the array, a barriergate overlies the substrate adjacent to the photogate. The barrier gateis connected to a barrier gate bias voltage. In addition, a readoutcircuit including an output transistor is preferably formed in each oneof the cells. This output transistor has a source and drain diffusionformed in said substrate and a gate overlying said substrate betweensaid source and drain diffusions. The drain diffusion is connected to adrain bias voltage, the output transistor gate is connected to thephotogate, and the source diffusion is connected to a column signal linewhich is common to all the pixel cells in a column of the array.Preferably, a load transistor is also connected to the outputtransistor, as well as a noise suppression circuit. The load transistorand noise suppression circuit are preferably connected to the outputtransistor via the column signal line, thereby creating a common loadtransistor and noise suppression circuit for every pixel cell in thecolumn of the array. Therefore, each column of the array would have aseparate load transistor and noise suppression circuit. In addition, theload transistors and noise suppression circuits are disposed at thebottom of the respective columns of cells connected thereto. The noisesuppression circuit is preferably the same as the previously-describedcorrelated double sampling circuit.

The SFG pixel operates in an integrating mode by biasing the photogateto a voltage greater than the barrier gate bias voltage. This allowscharge to accumulate in the portion of the substrate underlying thephotogate. Also, the drain bias voltage exceeds the photogate biasvoltage and the barrier gate bias voltage is set so as to preventblooming by causing charge in excess of a prescribed amount to drain toa potential well created under the drain diffusion of the outputtransistor by the drain bias voltage. The pixel is readout by increasingthe photogate bias voltage to a level exceeding other pixels not beingreadout. In order to facilitate the noise suppression process, thereadout process is preferably done twice, once after charge has beenaccumulated in the integration period, and once after the pixel has beenreset. The pixel is reset by lowering the photogate bias voltage to alevel below that of the barrier gate bias voltage. Since the barriergate voltage is lower than the drain bias voltage, the accumulatedcharge drains from the portion of the substrate underlying the photogateto the potential well created under the drain diffusion of the outputtransistor by the drain bias voltage.

It is also noted that an array of SFG pixels preferably includes themicro-lens layer overlying said substrate. The microlens layer isemployed to focus light toward a photosensitive portions of the cells.

In addition to the just described benefits, other objectives andadvantages of the present invention will become apparent from thedetailed description which follows hereinafter when taken in conjunctionwith the drawing accompanying figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other aspects of the invention will now be described in detailwith reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the architecture of a preferredindividual focal plane cell;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of an integrated circuit having a focal planearray of cells of the type illustrated in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram of the cell of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3B is a plan view of an integrated circuit constituting a focalplane array of cells of a type similar to FIG. 1, where the load FET andsampling circuit is deleted from each cell and incorporated as commonelements at the bottom of each array column.

FIG. 4 is a graph of the surface potential in the charge transfersection of the cell of FIG. 3A.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of an alternative embodiment of thefocal plane array of FIG. 2 including a micro-lens layer.

FIG. 6A shows a polymer filter embodiment;

FIG. 6B shows a phosphor embodiment;

FIG. 6C is a schematic diagram of an alternate embodiment of the cell ofFIG. 3A with a storage well and an additional charge coupled devicestage, and includes a graph of the surface potential in the chargetransfer section.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a Simple Floating Gate (SFG) pixelcell.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating the architecture of an integratedcircuit constituting a focal plane array of the SFG pixel cells of FIG.7.

FIGS. 9A-9C are surface potential graphs for the pixel cell of FIG. 7,where FIG. 9A represents the surface potential during the integrationphase, FIG. 9B represents the surface potential during the readoutphase, and FIG. 9C represents the surface potential during the resetphase.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of one pixel cell 10 of a focalplane array of many such cells formed in an integrated circuit. Eachcell 10 includes a photogate 12, a charge transfer section 14 adjacentthe photogate 12 and a readout circuit 16 adjacent the charge transfersection 14. FIG. 2 shows a focal plane array of many cells 10 formed ona silicon substrate 20.

FIG. 3A is a simplified schematic diagram of a cell 10 and itsassociated processing. Each pixel 300 includes a photogate area and itsassociated circuitry (30-50) and row decoder elements 55,60. FIG. 3Ashows the photogate 12 having a relatively large photogate electrode 30overlying the substrate. The charge transfer section 14 has a transfergate electrode 35 adjacent the photogate electrode 30, a floatingdiffusion 40, a reset electrode 45 and a drain diffusion 50. The readoutcircuit 16 has a source follower field effect transistor (FET) 55, a rowselect FET 60, a load FET 65 and a correlated double sampling circuit70.

The surface potential diagram of FIG. 4 shows the photogate electrode 30being held by a photogate signal PG at a positive voltage to form apotential well 80 in the substrate 20 in which photo-generated charge isaccumulated during an integration period. The transfer gate electrode 35is initially held at a less positive voltage by a transfer gate signalTX to form a potential barrier 85 adjacent the potential well 80. Thefloating diffusion 40 is connected to the gate of the source followerFET 55 whose drain is connected to a drain supply voltage VDD. The resetelectrode 45 is initially held by a reset signal RST at a voltagecorresponding to the voltage on the transfer gate 30 to form a potentialbarrier 90 thereunder. The drain supply voltage VDD connected to thedrain diffusion 50 creates a constant potential well 95 underneath thedrain diffusion 50.

During the horizontal scanning period, electrons accumulate in thepotential well 80 in proportion to photon flux incident on the substrate20 beneath the photogate electrode 30. At the end of the integrationperiod, the surface potential beneath the floating diffusion 40 isquickly reset to a potential level 100 slightly above the potential well95. This is accomplished by the reset signal RST temporarily increasingto a higher positive voltage to temporarily remove the potential barrier90 and provide a downward potential staircase from the transfer gatepotential barrier 85 to the drain diffusion potential well 95, asindicated in the drawing of FIG. 4. After the reset gate 45 is returnedto its initial potential (restoring the potential barrier 90), thereadout circuit 70 briefly samples the potential of the floatingdiffusion 40, and then the cell 10 is ready to transfer thephoto-generated charge from beneath the photogate electrode 30. For thispurpose, the photogate signal PG decreases to a less positive voltage toform a potential barrier 105 beneath the photogate electrode 30 andthereby provide a downward staircase surface potential from thephotogate electrode 30 to the potential well 100 beneath the floatingdiffusion 40. This operation transfers the charge from beneath thephotogate electrode 30 to the floating diffusion 40, changing thepotential of the floating diffusion 40 from the level (100) at which itwas previously reset to a new level 107 indicative of the amount ofcharge accumulated during the integration period. This new potential ofthe floating diffusion 40 is sensed at the source of the source followerFET 55. However, before the readout circuit 70 samples the source of thesource follower FET 55, the photogate signal PG returns to its initial(more positive) voltage. The entire process is repeated for the nextintegration period.

The readout circuit 70 has a signal sample and hold (S/H) circuitincluding an S/H FET 200 and a signal store capacitor 205 connectedthrough the S/H FET 200 and through the row select FET 60 to the sourceof the source follower FET 55. The other side of the capacitor 205 isconnected to a source bias voltage VSS. The one side of the capacitor205 is also connected to the gate of an output FET 210. The drain of theoutput FET is a connected through a column select FET 220 to a signalsample output node VOUTS and through a load FET 215 to the drain voltageVDD. A signal called “signal sample and hold” (SHS) briefly turns on theS/H FET 200 after the charge accumulated beneath the photogate electrode30 has been transferred to the floating diffusion 40, so that thecapacitor 205 stores the source voltage of the source follower FET 55indicating the amount of charge previously accumulated beneath thephotogate electrode 30.

The readout circuit 70 also has a reset sample and hold (S/H) circuitincluding an S/H FET 225 and a signal store capacitor 230 connectedthrough the S/H FET 225 and through the row select FET 60 to the sourceof the source follower FET 55. The other side of the capacitor 230 isconnected to the source bias voltage VSS. The one side of the capacitor230 is also connected to the gate of an output FET 240. The drain of theoutput FET 240 is connected through a column select FET 245 to a resetsample output node VOUTR and through a load FET 235 to the drain voltageVDD. A signal called “reset sample and hold” (SHR) briefly turns on theS/H FET 225 immediately after the reset signal RST has caused theresetting of the potential of the floating diffusion 40, so that thecapacitor 230 stores the voltage to which the floating diffusion hasbeen reset.

The readout circuit provides a special form of correlated doublesampling of the potential of the floating diffusion, allowing the chargeintegrated beneath the photogate 12 during each integration period to beobtained at the end of each integration period from the differencebetween the voltages at the output nodes VOUTS and VOUTR of the readoutcircuit 70. This minimizes the effects of kTC noise because thedifference between VOUTS and VOUTR is independent of any variation inthe reset voltage RST.

FIG. 5 shows a transparent refractive microlens layer 110 which may bedeposited over the top of the focal plane array of FIG. 2. The microlenslayer 110 has spherical portions 115 centered over each of the cells 10and contoured so as to focus light toward the center of each photogate12. This has the advantage of using light that would otherwise falloutside of the optically active region of the photogate 12. For example,at least some of the light that is ordinarily incident on either thecharge transfer section 14 or the readout circuit 16 (FIG. 1) would besensed in the photogate area with the addition of the microlens layer110. This has the effect of maximizing real estate—the portions of thesubstrate which include the non-photogate area are focused to anotherpoint.

FIGS. 6A and 6B show an alternative embodiment of the invention whichuses color filtering. Color filtering enables spatial separation ofcolor in an imaging device. CCD devices, for example, commonly use kindof color separation in this way.

The preferred system allows a plurality of pixels to have differentcolor filtering properties to provide a color filtering effect.Typically this is done by using the color filters in some array form:For example, alternate green filters interspersed with red and bluefilters. An exemplary filter operation would usegreen/red/green/blue/green/red/green/blue with that pattern continuingfor the length of the array.

According to this embodiment of the present invention, color filters areused to supplement the lens operation of FIG. 5.

The preferred system embodies its operation in one of the two formsshown in FIGS. 6A and 6B. The first form shown in FIG. 6A uses a polymercolor filter array. Such polymer color filter arrays are well-known inthe art. Layer 600 is preferably a red layer, and is first depositedover the entire chip. Subsequent to deposition, an etching technique isused to remove the red filter area 600 from everywhere except over thedesired pixel 10. A planarization layer 602 covers the removed areas tothereby planarize that surface, thereby flattening the surface. Bluefilter 604 is next deposited over pixel 10A. Blue filter 604 issimilarly etched such that it only covers the desired pixel 10A. Theremaining area is planarized by a second planarization layer 606.Finally, a green filter 610 is formed over that planarized layer,covering pixel 10B. Planarization layer 612 flattens the resulting areaso that green filter 610 only covers the pixel 10B.

Each pixel, including the polymer layer, is covered by microlens 115A;155B and 115C. The microlenses modify the incoming light in conjunctionwith the polymer layer. The light is therefore changed by bothmicrolenses 115A-115C and CFA parts 612, 606, and 600. Each pixel,therefore, preferably receives light that has been doubly modified inthis way.

This polymer color filter array causes the device to lose a certainamount of resolution of the scene being imaged since some of the pixelsare dedicated to a different color.

An alternative embodiment shown in FIG. 6B does not lose resolution, butinstead requires multiple chips to form any image. This would form a3-chip camera. One chip 650 has all its pixels covered by a red filter620. Hence that chip images the red scene—either the red components orthe complement to the red components. Analogously, the other chipsinclude green filters and blue filters. The three chips together formthe entire image.

Yet another embodiment uses a wavelength-converting phosphor 660 asshown in FIG. 6C. A wavelength-converting phosphor is typically tuned toaccept radiation of a desired wavelength, e.g., ultra-violet or x-ray.Typically the silicon underlayer is not responsive to that samewavelength. Therefore, the phosphor emits a photon of the proper type toproperly excite the underlying silicon 662, when receiving thisradiation. A preferred example is that the phosphor 660 is sensitive tox-ray, but emits a photon of green light that is detected by thecircuitry 662 which can be a sensor of any of the kinds describedherein.

While the FIG. 6C embodiment contemplates using thewavelength-converting phosphor over an entire surface of the device, itis also possible to use a pixelation effect. A shadow mask is used tomask the phosphor. The phosphor is only deposited where allowed by theshadow mask.

It should also be understood that these same techniques could beembodied in other focal plane and photodiode applications, and that theabove color filter array is not limited to single readout circuit perpixel systems.

Preferably, the focal plane array corresponding to FIGS. 1-4 isimplemented in MOS silicon or CMOS, or any other technology which iscompatible with an industry standard CMOS fabrication process.Preferably, each of the FETs is a MOSFET, the FETs 55, 60, 65, 200 and225 being n-channel devices and the FETs 210, 220, 225, 230, 240, 245being p-channel devices. The n-channel MOSFETS and the CCD channelunderlying the gate electrodes 30, 35, 45 and the diffusions 40 and 50may be located in a p-well while the remaining (p-channel) devices arelocated outside of the p-well. The gate voltage VLP applied to the gatesof the p-channel channel load FETs 215 and 235 is a constant voltage onthe order of +2.5 volts. The gate voltage VLN applied to the n-channelload FET 65 is a constant voltage on the order of +1.5 volts.

The charge transfer section 14 preferably uses only a single CCD stagebetween the photogate 12 and the floating diffusion 40 in the specificembodiment of FIG. 3A. This means that there is no loss due to chargetransfer inefficiency and therefore there is no need to fabricate thedevice with any kind of special CCD process. As a result, the readoutcircuit 70 as well as the output circuitry of the FETs 55, 60 and 65 canbe readily implemented as standard CMOS circuits, making them relativelyinexpensive. However, any suitable charge coupled device architecturemay be employed to implement the charge transfer section 14, including aCCD having more than one stage. For example, two or three stages may beuseful for buffering two or three integration periods.

Other implementations of the concept of the invention may be readilyconstructed by the skilled worker in light of the foregoing disclosure.For example, the floating diffusion 40 may instead be a floating gateelectrode. The signal and reset sample and hold circuits of the readoutcircuit 70 may be any suitable sample and hold circuits. Moreover,shielding of the type well-known in the art may be employed defining anaperture surrounding the photogate 12. Also, the invention may beimplemented as a buried channel, n-well, or p-channel device.

Another feature of the invention which is useful for eliminating fixedpattern noise due to variations in FET threshold voltage across thesubstrate 20 is a shorting FET 116 across the sampling capacitors 205,235. After the accumulated charge has been measured as the potentialdifference between the two output nodes VOUTS and VOUTR, a shortingsignal VM is temporarily applied to the gate of the shorting FET 116 andthe VOUTS-to-VOUTR difference is measured again. This latter differenceis a measure of the disparity between the threshold voltages of theoutput FETs 210, 240, and may be referred to as the fixed patterndifference. The fixed pattern difference is subtracted from thedifference between VOUTS and VOUTR measured at the end of theintegration period, to remove fixed pattern noise.

As previously mentioned herein, a floating gate may be used instead ofthe floating diffusion 40. Such a floating gate is indicatedschematically in FIG. 3A by a simplified dashed line floating gateelectrode 41.

In one preferred implementation, the area of the L-shaped photogate 12(i.e., the photogate electrode 30) was about 100 square microns; thetransfer gate electrode 35 and the reset gate electrode were each about1.5 microns by about 6 microns; the photogate signal PG was variedbetween about +5 volts (its more positive voltage) and about 0 volts(its less positive voltage; the transfer gate signal TX was about +2.5volts; the reset signal RST was varied between about +5 volts (its morepositive voltage) and about +2.5 volts (its less positive voltage); thedrain diffusion 50 was held at about +5 volts.

The array structure of FIGS. 1-4 can be modified to incorporate apreferred column parallel approach. The term column parallel approachrefers to a portion of the readout circuitry being connected to thebottom on the columns of the array. This allows an entire row of thearray to be processed at one time. This column approach is in contrastto a spatially parallel processing approach where each pixel has its ownprocessing circuitry (e.g., the embodiment of FIGS. 1-4), or a serialprocessing approach where the output of each pixel is sequentially feedto a single processor for processing.

FIG. 3B shows a column parallel approach where the load FET 65 andcorrelated double sampling circuit 70 are deleted from the individualpixel cells 10. Instead, each cell 10 in a column of the array isconnected to a common load FET 65 and sampling circuit 70. The commonelements are preferably located at the bottom of each column of thearray. This column parallel array structure has a significant advantage.Since the load FET 65 and sampling circuit 70 have been removed from thepixel cells 10, there is more photosensitive cell area available. Thus,the resolution of each cell 10 is improved. The column parallel arraystructure is read out by selecting an entire row using standard row andcolumn select circuitry 18, 19. Selecting a row, among other things,results in the accumulated charge being transferred from the photogatepotential well 80 of each cell 10 in the row to its associated floatingdiffusion 40. Thereafter, the sampling circuits 70 at the bottom of eachcolumn “read” the connected pixel cell 10 in the manner describedpreviously. A standard multiplexer 21 is then employed to output the“read” pixel cell values, either in parallel or serially.

The previous described pixel cell structure of FIGS. 3A and 4 (or themodified structure discussed in connection with FIG. 3B) can be furthermodified to allow for the simultaneous integration of the array. In theoriginally described structure of the pixel cell, charge accumulated inthe photogate well 80 during the integration period was transferreddirectly to the floating diffusion 40. However, not all the cells in thearray can be read out at the same time. Charge transferred to thefloating diffusion 40 tends to degrade over time and therefore anysignal therefrom is degraded with time. Therefore, only the accumulatedcharge for pixel cells that are currently being read out is preferablytransferred. For example, as described in connection with the embodimentof FIG. 3B, only a row of the array is read out at one time. Since onlya portion of the array is read out, some provision must be made toprevent further accumulation of charge in the other cells. In thepreviously described embodiments, this is done by integrating only thosecells which are to be read out. Thus, the resulting image, once all thecells have been integrated and read, represents a series of lines, eachcorresponding to the observed scene at a different time. As discussedpreviously, if the observed scene is changing quickly, the resultingimage will be motion-skewed.

FIG. 6 shows the technique of the present invention. Two additionalgates are incorporated into the basic cell structure. These include anintermediate transfer gate 255, and a storage gate electrode 260 whichoverlies a storage potential well 265 in the substrate. The storage well265 preferably has the same surface area as the photogate well 80. Thisensures that all the charge accumulated in the photogate well 80 can betransferred to the storage well 265. In addition, it is preferred thatthe non-photosensitive portion of the pixel cell be shielded fromoptical radiation by an opaque layer 270, e.g., a metal layer. Thenon-photosensitive portion of the cell includes the area underlying theintermediate transfer gate 255 and storage gate 260, as well as thetransfer gate 35, floating diffusion 40, reset gate 45, and V+drain 50.This optical shielding layer 270 minimizes the possibility thatoptically generated noise affects the charge stored in the storage well265, or the other identified structures.

The process for operating this modified pixel cell is similar to thatdescribed previously, except that the charge accumulated under thephotogate electrode 30 during the integration period is transferredacross the intermediate transfer gate 255 and into the storage potentialwell 265, where it remains until readout. This is accomplished bydecreasing the voltage of the signal on the photogate electrode 30,which is initially at a higher positive voltage than the intermediatetransfer gate 255, to less than that of the intermediate gate 255. Thisoperation forms the potential barrier 105 beneath the photogateelectrode 30, thereby providing a downward staircase surface potentialform the photogate electrode 30 to the storage well 265 (which is beingheld at a higher positive voltage than the intermediate transfer gate255). During readout, the floating diffusion node 40 is reset and thereset voltage sampled, as discussed previously. Next, the charge istransferred from the storage well 265 over the transfer gate potential85 and into the floating diffusion node 40, where it is sampled, in thesame way the charge was transferred from the photogate well 80 to thenode 40 in the first-described embodiment (of FIGS. 3A-B and 4).

The storage well 265 charge is transferred from the charge from thephotogate well 80 to the storage well 265 after the integration period.This allows simultaneous integration realized. All the pixel cells (or apart thereof if desired) can be used to image the observed scene for theduration of the prescribed integration period, regardless of when eachindividual cell is to be read out, because the accumulated charge ineach cell is transferred to its associated storage well 265 at the endof the integration period. In this way a “snapshot” image is stored. Thestorage well 265 provides a stable structure in which to store thetransferred charge. Accordingly, the accumulated and transferred chargecan remain in the storage well 265, substantially isolated from noise orleakage, until the time of readout for that cell. Only then is thecharge transferred to the floating diffusion 40. Thus, there is littledegradation of the signal produced even though the charge was stored forsome period of time.

This simultaneous integration pixel cell structure trades off the fillfactor of the cell. The intermediate transfer gate 255 and storage gate260 take up room on the substrate and are shielded from opticalradiation. Therefore, the proportion of the cell that is activelyphotosensitive is reduced. This may have the effect of lowering theresolution of the cell for any particular cell size. A lens over theshielded space can be used to recapture some of the light that falls onthat shielded area.

Another embodiment of the present invention extends the dynamic range ofthe sensor array by using a non-destructive readout capability.Non-destructive reading of a pixel allows the pixel to be read multipletimes. For example, in low light imaging applications, the signal outputof a pixel cell can be integrated over several frame periods (i.e.,multiple readouts) until the signal reaches some prescribed threshold.This allows relatively faint objects to be imaged by repeatedlyincreasing the accumulated charge, until enough charge exists to producea readable output signal.

The inventors herein suggest using a non-destructive readout floatinggate structure to substitute for the floating diffusion structure. Thefloating gate structure allows for non-destructive readout because theaccumulated charge does not have to be drained during the readoutprocess. The floating gate embodiment of the previously described activepixel image sensor (of FIG. 3A) would be acceptable in many applicationswhere a non-destructive readout was desired. A simplified floating gatepixel structure is described below which has the additional advantage ofallowing a smaller pixel size due to its fewer components, and so besuitable for high-density arrays.

This simplified floating gate pixel structure is shown in FIG. 7. TheSimple Floating Gate (SFG) pixel uses a coupling capacitor 1002, aphotogate 1004, a barrier gate 1006, and an output transistor 1008. Theoutput transistor 1008 is preferably an n-channel MOSFET having a gate1010, a source diffusion 1012, and a drain diffusion 1014. The draindiffusion 1014 also acts as a reset drain during the reset operation.Drain diffusion is later used as an overflow drain during theintegration period. The photogate 1004 is capacitively coupled, to a rowaddress line 1016 associated with the row of pixels to which thedepicted pixel belongs, through the coupling capacitor 1002. Inaddition, the photogate 1004 is connected to the gate 1010 of the outputtransistor 1008. This photogate connection configuration in effectcreates a floating gate. The source diffusion 1012 of the outputtransistor 1008 is coupled to a column signal line 1018 which isassociated with the column of pixels to which the depicted pixelbelongs.

FIG. 8 exemplifies the general structure of an array of SFG pixels 1020;in this case a 4×4 array. Each pixel is connected to a row address line1016 and a column signal line 1018 associated with the pixel'srespective row and column in the array. The row address lines 1016 areultimately connected to the row decoder 1022. However, these row lines1016 are also connected through a voltage level mixing circuit 1024.This mixing circuit 1024 is used to generate row address line biases andpulses with one of three different voltage levels. The purpose for thesedifferent voltage levels will be discussed later in this disclosure.

The column signal lines 1018 are ultimately connected to the columndecoder 1026, as in previous embodiments. In addition, the presentembodiment preferably employs the previously-described column parallelarchitecture to maximize the photosensitive area of each pixel.Accordingly, between the array and the column decoder 1026 at the bottomof the array, each of the column signal lines 1018 is connected to aseparate readout circuit 1028. Thus, one readout circuit 1028 is commonto all the pixels 1020 forming the corresponding column of the array.The preferred readout circuit 1028 is the same as the correlated doublesampling circuit described previously with reference to FIG. 3. Thiscircuit includes a load transistor 1030 connected to the associatedcolumn signal line 1018. This load transistor 1030 is preferably ann-channel MOSFET which acts as an active load. The load transistor 1030and the output transistor 1008 (of FIG. 7) resident in the connectedpixels 1020 form a source follower. Each column signal line 1018 is alsoconnected to a pair of sample and hold circuits. The first sample andhold circuit consists of a signal transistor 1032 and a signal capacitor1034. The second sample and hold circuit has a reset transistor 1036 andreset capacitor 1038. The gate of each signal transistor 1032 isconnected to a sample and hold signal (SHS), which, when present, causesthe voltage output of a selected pixel in the associated column of thearray to be stored at the corresponding signal capacitor 1034.Similarly, the gate of each reset transistor 1036 is connected to asample and hold reset signal (SHR) which when present causes the voltageoutput of the selected pixel in the associated column to be stored atthe corresponding reset capacitor 1038. The signal and reset capacitors1034, 1038 are also connected to a noise suppression circuit (“NSC”)1040. NSC 1040 operates as in previous embodiments to subtract the resetlevel held at the reset capacitor 1038 from the signal level held at thesignal capacitor 1034 thereby eliminating the effects of kTC noise, andto differentiate this derived level from a level obtained after shortingacross the capacitors 1034, 1038 thereby eliminating fixed patternnoise.

FIGS. 9A-9C shows graphs of surface potential. The drain diffusion 1014is DC biased at a relatively high voltage V_(DD) (e.g., 5.0 V) and thebarrier gate 1006 is DC biased at a lower voltage V_(BG) (e.g., 1.25 V).These biases remain the same throughout the integration, readout, andreset cycles of the image sensor to create a constant potential well1042 under the drain diffusion 1014 and potential barrier 1044 under thebarrier gate 1006. FIG. 9A illustrates the integration period, the rowaddress line 1016 is biased at the integration voltage, i.e.,V_(RAL)=V_(INT), which is larger than the barrier gate bias voltageV_(BG). This creates a potential well 1046 under the photogate 1004wherein photon-induced signal electrons are accumulated for the durationof the integration period. However, the aforementioned barrier gate biasvoltage V_(BG) is also chosen to provide anti-blooming control, similarto that discussed in connection with the shutter gate embodiments of theinvention. In this case, when the amount of accumulated charge exceeds alevel determined by the barrier gate bias voltage V_(BG), the excess isdrained into the drain diffusion potential well 1042.

Readout is accomplished by pulsing the row address line 1016 to areadout voltage, i.e., V_(RAL)=V_(RD), which is larger than theintegration voltage V_(INT). The floating gate potential, which dependson the amount of the accumulated signal charge, is sensed by the sourcefollower circuit formed by the output and load transistors 1008, 1030.The readout voltage V_(RD) is made larger than the integration voltageV_(INT) to differentiate the output of the pixels in the selected row ofthe array from the non-selected pixels in other rows, thus eliminatingso-called “dark-clipping”. Specifically, the readout voltage V_(RD) ismade sufficiently larger than the integration voltage V_(INT), so thatonly the pixel 1020 in the column of the array with the larger readoutvoltage bias (i.e., V_(RD)) is sensed by the source follower circuit.The selected pixel is sensed exclusive of the non-selected pixels in thecolumn because of the common load configuration described above.Therefore, a winner-take-all circuit is created with the readout voltagebiased pixel 1020 always being the winner. In a tested embodiment a 1volt difference, where V_(RD)=5 V and V_(INT)=4 V, was sufficient todifferentiate the selected pixel from the non-selected pixels. Thereadout phase of the operation is illustrated in FIG. 9B.

Finally, reset is accomplished by biasing the row address line 1016 at areset voltage, i.e., V_(RAL)=V_(RS), which is preferably groundpotential (i.e., 0 V). As shown in FIG. 9C, this creates a downwardstaircase surface potential from the region underlying the photogate1004, across the potential barrier 1044 under the barrier gate 1006, tothe potential well 1042 under the drain diffusion 1014. Thus, the signalcharge accumulated under the photogate 1004 is completely drained andthe pixel 1020 is reset. Since the photogate region is completelydrained during reset, the SFG pixel will exhibit no kTC noise, and noimage lag.

The readout and reset operations are preferably used in combination toperform the aforementioned noise suppression tasks. First, after theintegration period is complete, the readout voltage V_(RD) is applied tothe selected row of the array (via the corresponding row address line1016) and the signal level is sampled from each pixel 1020 in the rowand held on the associated signal capacitor 1034 at the bottom of thearray column. Next, the row address line 1016 is biased at the resetvoltage V_(RS), thereby resetting the pixel 1020. The row address line1016 is then again biased at the readout voltage V_(RD) and the resetpixel level of each pixel 1020 in the selected row is sampled and heldon the corresponding reset capacitors 1038. During the next integrationperiod, the stored signal and reset levels from each of the previouslyselected pixels are read out in parallel to the noise suppressioncircuit 1040 and operated upon as discussed previously. Thenoise-suppressed pixel levels are then readout via a multiplexer (notshown) as in previously described embodiments of the invention.

A tradeoff exists between the dynamic range of a SFG pixel cell (i.e.,the maximum amount of charge that can be accumulated before saturation)and its sensitivity (i.e., the voltage level associated with the amountof charge accumulated). The saturation level N_(sat) increase as theratio β between the capacitance C_(O) of the coupling capacitor 1002 andthe capacitance C_(PG) associated with the photogate 1004, while thesensitivity S decreases, where:N _(sat)=(C _(tot) ×V _(sat,PG))/q  (4)C _(tot) =C _(dep)+[(C _(O) +C _(ol) +C _(g))/(C_(PG) +C _(O) +C _(col)+C _(g))]  (5)S=q/[C _(dep)+1/C _(PG)×{(C _(PG) +C _(dep))×(C _(O) +C _(ol) +C_(g))}]  (6)C_(dep) being the depletion capacitance of the photogate 1004, C_(ol)being the overlap capacitance coupled to the to the floating gate, andC_(g) being the gate capacitance of the output transistor 1008. Thus,for a given photogate capacitance (C_(PG)), larger coupling capacitorvalues will result in higher saturation levels, but lower sensitivity.This result is not too surprising since larger coupling capacitor valuesrequire physically larger capacitor structures in the pixel cell, and soa lower fill factor, i.e., less “effective” photosensitive area. Theterm “effective” photosensitive area is used because, although, thecoupling capacitor structure does significantly reduce the amount ofphotogenerated charge thereunder, some is still produced. Thus, the fillfactor is not a straight ratio of the physical photogate area to thetotal area. For tested embodiments of the SFG sensor array, a β=0.5 waschosen as a compromise between saturation levels and sensitivity.However, a different β value could be used to favor either a highersaturation level or a higher sensitivity depending on the requirementsof the desired application. It is also noted that the previouslydescribed microlens structure could be incorporated into the SFG pixelarray to increase the effective fill factor by concentrating thereceived light on the actively photosensitive region under thephotogate. This increased effective fill factor would then improve thesensitivity of the cell.

The aforementioned tested sensor array has 32(H)×27(V) pixels with apixel size of only 40×40 μm². The chip was implemented in a 2 μmdouble-poly n-well CMOS process. The output saturation voltage wasmeasured to be 180 mV under the condition where V_(DD)=5 V, V_(INT)=4.0V, V_(RD)=5 V, V_(RS)=0v, and V_(BG)=1.25 V. Good linearity was obtainedin that the photogate voltage varied linearly with the amount ofaccumulated charge. Fixed pattern noise was suppressed to 1 mV_(p-p). Inaddition, no blooming was observed. Read noise was measured to be 215μV_(rms).

While the invention has been described in detail by reference to thepreferred embodiment described above, it is understood that variationsand modifications thereof may be made without departing from the truespirit and scope of the invention. For example, the switched capacitorintegrators described in connection with the second preferredimplementation of the multiresolution readout circuit could be replacedwith switched capacitor filters. The switched capacitor filters would bedesigned to perform a low pass filtering and pixel weighting operationinstead of just simple signal averaging. In this way, a moresophisticated block processing procedure can be realized.

1. An imaging device, comprising: a monolithic semiconductor integratedcircuit substrate; a focal plane array of pixel cells, each one of saidpixel cells comprising: a photodetector having a photodetector portionformed in said substrate and a photodetector electrode overlying saidphotodetector portion, said photodetector operable to accumulatephoto-generated charge in said photodetector portion in response toincident radiation, and a charge coupled device section formed on saidsubstrate adjacent said photodetector and having an output transistorwhose gate is connected to said photodetector electrode to form afloating gate and at least one charge coupled device stage, said chargecoupled device section configured and operable to transfer chargethrough said charge coupled device stage from said photodetector portionof said substrate to a drain of said output transistor during a resetoperation and to produce an electrical signal indicative of saidphoto-generated charge.
 2. The imaging device of claim 1 wherein saidcharge coupled device stage comprises a transfer gate between said drainof said output transistor and photodetector portion.
 3. The imagingdevice of claim 2, wherein said charge coupled device section includes acapacitor having a first terminal coupled to both said floating gate ofsaid output transistor and said photodetector electrode and a secondterminal to receive a row address voltage signal that is at anintegration voltage higher than a barrier potential at said transfergate during an integration period and is at a readout voltage which ishigher than said integration voltage during a readout period.
 4. Theimaging device of claim 1 further comprising means for periodicallyresetting a potential of said floating gate to a predeterminedpotential.
 5. The imaging device of claim 1, wherein each one of saidpixel cells further comprises: a drain diffusion connected to a drainbias voltage; and a reset gate located between said floating gate ofsaid output transistor and said drain diffusion and coupled to receive areset control signal that controls said reset operation.
 6. The imagingdevice of claim 1, further comprising a readout circuit which includes afield effect source follower output transistor having a gate coupled toreceive an output from said floating gate of said output transistor. 7.The imaging device of claim 6, wherein said readout circuit furthercomprises a field effect load transistor connected to said sourcefollower output transistor.
 8. The imaging device of claim 7, whereinsaid readout circuit further comprises a correlated double samplingcircuit having an input node connected between said source followeroutput transistor and said load transistor.
 9. The imaging device ofclaim 8, wherein the correlated double sampling circuit comprises: apair of sample and hold field effect transistors formed in saidsubstrate, each sample and hold field effect transistor having one of asource and drain thereof connected to a source of said source followertransistor; a pair of sample and hold capacitors connected to the otherone of the source and drain of a respective one of said pair of sampleand hold transistors; and means for sensing a potential of each of saidsample and hold capacitors at respective intervals.
 10. The imagingdevice of claim 9 further comprising means for sensing a differencebetween potentials of said pair of sample and hold capacitors.
 11. Theimaging device of claim 9 further comprising means for shorting acrosseach of said pair of sample and hold capacitors simultaneously whilesaid means for sensing measures a fixed pattern noise difference. 12.The imaging device of claim 9, wherein said focal array of pixel cellsis organized in rows and columns, and wherein said readout circuitfurther comprises a plurality of load transistors and correlated doublesampling circuits, wherein each cell in each column of pixel cells isconnected to a single common load transistor and a single commoncorrelated double sampling circuit.
 13. The imaging device of claim 12,wherein each of said common load transistors and correlated doublesampling circuits is disposed at an end of a respective column of pixelcells connected thereto.
 14. The imaging device of claim 12, whereinsaid readout circuit further comprises: a row select field effecttransistor formed in each one of said cells having its source and drainconnected between said source of said source follower output transistorand said pair of sample and hold transistors, and a gate connected to arow select signal; and wherein said means for sensing at periodintervals comprises, a pair of sample and hold output transistors havingrespective gates and sources connected across respective ones of saidpair of sample and hold capacitors, and having respective drains,respective differential output nodes of said correlated double samplingcircuit, and a pair of column select transistors formed in saidsubstrate each having a source and drain connected between a drain of arespective one of said sample and hold output transistors and a gateconnected to a column select signal.
 15. The imaging device of claim 14,wherein each of said transistors is a metal oxide field effecttransistor, said source follower output transistor, said loadtransistor, said row select transistor, and said pair of sample and holdtransistors being n-channel devices, said pair of sample and hold outputtransistors and said pair of column select transistors being p-channeldevices.
 16. The imaging device of claim 1 further comprising amicro-lens layer overlying said substrate, said micro-lens layercomprising: a refractive layer; and individual lenses formed in saidlayer in registration with individual ones of said cells, each of saidindividual lenses having a curvature for focusing light toward aphotosensitive portion of the respective cell.
 17. The imaging device ofclaim 16, wherein said refractive layer comprises a polymer.
 18. Theimaging device of claim 17 wherein said refractive layer comprisespolyamide.
 19. The imaging device of claim 16, wherein each of saidindividual lenses covers portions of the corresponding cell includingsaid photodetector as well as said charge coupled device section. 20.The imaging device of claim 1, further comprising CMOS image signalprocessing electronics integrated on said substrate and connected tocommunicate with said focal plane array, said CMOS image signalprocessing electronics providing on-chip signal processing of electricalsignals from said pixel cells.
 21. An imaging device, comprising: amonolithic semiconductor integrated circuit substrate; a focal planearray of pixel cells formed on said substrate by an integrated circuitprocess that is compatible with a complementary metal oxidesemiconductor (CMOS) process, each one of said pixel cells comprising: aphotodetector electrode overlying said substrate and operable toaccumulate photo-generated charge in an underlying photodetector portionof said substrate, a barrier gate formed on said substrate adjacent saidphotodetector portion, and a pixel transistor formed on said substrateand configured to have a first diffusion region adjacent said barriergate, a gate and a second diffusion region, said gate connected to saidphotodetector electrode to form a floating gate, wherein said barriergate is operable to transfer said photo-generated charge from saidunderlying photodetector portion of said substrate to said firstdiffusion region of said pixel transistor, and wherein said gate of saidpixel transistor produces an electrical signal comprising a signalcomponent indicative of said photo-generated charge and a noisecomponent indicative of noise associated with said pixel; and MOS imagesignal processing electronics integrated on said substrate and connectedto communicate with said focal plane array and to provide on-chip signalprocessing of electrical signals from said pixel cells.
 22. The imagingdevice of claim 21, wherein said first diffusion region is a floatingnode to function as a source of said pixel transistor and said seconddiffusion region is biased at a selected DC voltage to function as adrain, said first diffusion region converting said photo-generatedcharge into said electrical signal.
 23. The imaging device of claim 22,further comprising: a readout circuit formed on said substrate andcomprising a field-effect source follower output transistor coupled toreceive said electrical signal from said pixel transistor; afield-effect load transistor connected to said source follower outputtransistor; and a correlated double sampling circuit having an inputnode connected between said source follower output transistor and saidload transistor and operable to produce an output signal indicating onlysaid photo-generated charge, wherein said sampling circuit samples saidelectrical signal once when said gate of said pixel transistor is set ata first gate potential without changing an amount of photo-generatedcharge in said first diffusion region and to sample said electricalsignal for a second time when said gate of said pixel transistor is setat a second gate potential.
 24. The imaging device of claim 21, whereinsaid first diffusion region is biased at a selected DC voltage tofunction as a drain.
 25. The imaging device of claim 24, wherein eachpixel cell further comprises a capacitor having a first terminalconnected to both said photodetector electrode and said gate of saidpixel transistor.
 26. The imaging device of claim 24, furthercomprising: a readout circuit comprising a field-effect source followeroutput transistor formed in each one of said cells, the second diffusionregion of said pixel transistor being connected to a gate of said sourcefollower output transistor; a field-effect load transistor connected tosaid source follower output transistor; and a correlated double samplingcircuit having an input node connected between said source followeroutput transistor and said load transistor and operable to sample saidsecond diffusion region twice in an readout operation to produce anoutput signal indicating only said photo-generated charge.
 27. Animaging device, comprising: a monolithic semiconductor integratedcircuit substrate; a focal plane array of pixel cells formed on saidsubstrate by an integrated circuit process that is compatible withcomplementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process, each one of saidpixel cells comprising, a photodetector electrode overlying saidsubstrate and operable to accumulate photo-generated charge in anunderlying portion of said substrate, a barrier gate formed on saidsubstrate adjacent said underlying portion, and a pixel transistorformed on said substrate and configured to have a drain adjacent saidbarrier gate, a gate and a source, a capacitor having a terminalconnected to both said photodetector electrode and said gate of saidpixel transistor to make said gate of said pixel transistor a floatinggate, wherein said barrier gate is operable to transfer saidphoto-generated charge from said underlying portion of said substrateunder said photodetector electrode to said drain of said pixeltransistor which produces an electrical signal having a signal componentindicative of said photo-generated charge.
 28. The imaging device ofclaim 27, further comprising a readout circuit formed on said substrateto receive said electrical signal, said read circuit comprising: afield-effect source follower output transistor coupled to receive saidelectrical signal; a field-effect load transistor connected to saidsource follower output transistor; and a correlated double samplingcircuit having an input node connected between said source followeroutput transistor and said load transistor and operable to sample saidsecond diffusion region twice in a readout operation to produce anoutput signal indicating only said photo-generated charge.
 29. Theimaging device of claim 27, further comprising CMOS image signalprocessing electronics integrated on said substrate and connected tocommunicate with said focal plane array, said CMOS image signalprocessing electronics providing on-chip signal processing of electricalsignals from said pixel cells.
 30. A method, comprising: producingcharge in a portion of a semiconductor substrate under a photodetectorelectrode in response to incident photons incident to said portion;using a transfer gate formed in said substrate next to said portionunder said photodetector electrode to output said charge; using a drainof an output transistor formed in said substrate next to said transfergate to receive said charge from said portion; and connecting a gate ofsaid output transistor to said photodetector electrode to form afloating gate so as to convert said charge into an electrical signal.31. A method as in claim 30, further comprising biasing said drain at aDC voltage.
 32. A method as in claim 30, further comprising: coupling afirst terminal of a capacitor to both said photodetector electrode andsaid gate of said output transistor; using a second terminal of saidcapacitor to receive a row address voltage; and using a source of saidoutput transistor to receive a row address voltage.
 33. A method as inclaim 32, further comprising: setting said row address voltage at anintegration voltage higher than a barrier potential at said transfergate during an integration period; and setting said row address voltageat a readout voltage which is higher than said integration voltageduring a readout period.